Actually, your teacher was pretty much correct. I was told that there was no limit, but the recommendation was around 300 words per task of excellent french. More than that and it would turn into babble. I did this and got an A* in my french writing. So you can't really blame your grades on misinformation, sorry :/ Nothing will come of your appeal I'm afraid.
Spending an hour counting is ridiculous, it takes at most 5 minutes.